


A Promise from the Future

by Voyager_Z



Series: White Rose Week 2020 [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Time Travel, White Rose Week 2020 (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:00:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24785038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Voyager_Z/pseuds/Voyager_Z
Summary: “I was given one time to visit whoever I wanted! After this I’ll be on my way, and no one will know I was even here.”“So you chose to visit me? But I don’t even know you.”“Ah, but I know you, Weiss! You just don’t know me… yet.”Weiss shuts herself in her room, scared, alone, and starved on hope, until she receives a mysterious visit from another time, promising for better things to come.---My final contribution to White Rose Week 2020. Day 7: Future.
Relationships: Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Series: White Rose Week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1788496
Comments: 5
Kudos: 92





	A Promise from the Future

Mother and Father were fighting again.

The occurrence wasn’t all that uncommon, not anymore. It seemed that every night, the two would find a new spark from which to light a flame, consuming the entire house in their rage. And no one could stop them—Winter was the only one who could have, before even she tired of their altercations and left the household to join the military. The rest of the servants in the house just wisely kept their distance, pretending not to see how the anger and violence seemed to transform their masters into completely different people. 

Jacques, normally the quintessential businessman, with charisma and cunning matched only by his business acumen, would slobber and spit as he screamed, everything from the neck up boiled red, eyes bulging out of their sockets. Meanwhile, Willow would be a far cry from the picturesque, well-read, elegant noblewoman—whiskey bottle in hand, she’d slur and yell incomplete sentences, booze-addled mind unable to form coherent thought as she mindlessly met her husband’s aggression with her own. They’d continue until they both exhaust themselves, and Jacques would return to his study and fuss over charts and graphs and yell at some poor executives, while Willow would return to the library and proceed through her collection of wine.

Only to start again the next evening, and the evening after that, without end.

Weiss cringed as the sound of pottery shattering across the floor rang through the manor like a gunshot. Just like every other day they fought, she was lying atop her blankets, shut in her own room after locking the door, holding a pillow over her ears as she attempted in futility to block everything out. She recently had the staff soundproof the walls of her room in hopes of giving herself a sanctuary within her home—it used to work, but from there the fights only escalated in length and brutality. Her walls, for all their acoustic padding, may as well have been made of paper. 

Weiss squeezed tears out of her eyes as she let out a soundless scream. She just wanted to leave. Be anywhere but here. She wanted someone—anyone—to rescue her from the hell her home has become.

She wasn’t sure how long she waited in the darkness, waiting for the shouting and screaming to stop. However, in time she felt something light and warm descend upon her back, as arms gently wrapped around her frame to embrace her. She tensed in alarm as she prepared to reach to her headboards to grab Myrtenaster from its frame—upon Winter’s insistence, she adopted the practice of sleeping by her sword as an act of self-defense.

“Hey, hey, calm down,” a girl’s voice tried frantically to soothe, no doubt reading her intent to grab her weapon. “I promise I won’t hurt you. I’m a friend.” Seemingly to demonstrate as much, the arms around Weiss immediately retracted, and she felt a depression on the side of her bed as the stranger seemed to kneel on its edge, as far away from Weiss as possible.

Weiss inexplicably felt a familiarity with this voice, even though she knew she had never heard it before. It filled her with the same peace and warmth that she recalled experiencing back when she was a little girl, when she huddled in her late grandfather’s lap as he read her favourite stories. She felt her fear melt away as she sat up and turned around, finally able to take in the appearance of her visitor with her own eyes.

She saw, to her surprise, a ghost. It was a girl with short, brown hair, eyes silver, dressed in red and black. Her figure was translucent and inchoate, as if she’d fade away as suddenly as she appeared.

The girl awkwardly smiled. “Hi.”

* * *

It turned out that Weiss’ surprise visitor—her name was Ruby Rose, apparently—wasn’t actually there in the traditional sense.

“I was given one time to visit whoever I wanted! After this I’ll be on my way, and no one will know I was even here.”

“So you chose to visit me?” Weiss inquired. “But I don’t even know you.”

“Ah, but I know you, Weiss! You just don’t know me…  _ yet _ .”

“...What does that mean?”

“It means I’m from the future, silly!” came Ruby’s jolly reply, as if the possibility of time travel was obvious.

“So eventually we’ll meet.” Weiss wasn’t really sure what made her accept such ludicrous facts as reality, but she was feeling oddly placid and at peace. Never has talking to a stranger felt so comfortable.

Ruby grinned. “Yup! And we’re gonna be besties! The greatest pair of Huntresses at Beacon!”

Weiss was shocked. “I… I made it into Beacon…?”

“Mhmm!” Ruby’s visage softened, gaze filled with adoration. “You really were amazing, Weiss. Everyone looked up to you. Especially me. We were in this team of four alongside my sister and her partner. And your glyphs and summoning and stuff were incredible—you always managed to place them in such a perfect spot each and every time. Team RWBY was the strongest team in the academy, and it was off of your back. Like for example, there was this one time we fought this hoard of Beowolves...”

Ruby began to ramble as she recounted every story she could about their future past at Beacon. Weiss listened in fascination and incredulity as she listened to this utopian, dream reality where she was surrounded by loving friends, where people admired her, where she made all her dreams come true. 

Weiss couldn’t take it anymore, as the full implications of what she just learned struck her. Her chest seemed to fill with warmth as her eyes teared up, her gaze lowering to her hands clasped on her knees. She made it into Beacon. For how many years has Beacon been a distant, unattainable goal. How many times has she trained her swordplay and her Aura with Winter until her bones cracked? How many times did she conjure a malformed summoning glyph, then look up to see Winter close her eyes and shake her head in disappointment? How many times has her father scorned and demeaned her efforts as a waste of time, sentencing her to failure?

It was all worth it. All her struggles will pay off.

She looked back up to see Ruby smiling kindly at her. Somewhere along the line, Ruby must’ve stopped, out of consideration for her weeping friend.

“Ruby, I...” She didn’t really know what to say. “...It’s all so hard to believe.”

“What is?” Ruby asked, tilting her head.

Weiss looked at the floor. “...All of it, I guess. That I could have friends, that I could be strong, that I could actually get into Beacon. It’s all so hard to imagine. Till now, I was always alone. I only have Winter, and all I seem to do is disappoint her.”

“Weiss, Winter is scary, but she really does care for you. She just has a hard time showing it, I guess.”

“My father tells me I waste my time and effort, that I’m better off not trying. When my mother sees me training, she just looks away in scorn, downing her drink then hiding away.”

At this, Ruby frowns, and pauses a bit, searching for the right words to say. “Weiss, your parents are bitter people. You can’t let them interfere with your dreams. You must stay strong and find your own path.”

“I’m just as bitter as them.” The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, after all. “Making friends, connecting with others, trusting them… it’s impossible.”

Ruby shook her head. “No, Weiss. You’re a good person. You were just dealt a poor hand in your upbringing. Anyone who got to know you would attest that you’re immeasurably kind and loyal. The greatest friend one could ask for.”

It went on like this for what felt like hours. Weiss would voice an insecurity, and Ruby would quash it with a ruthless barrage of compliments. Weiss spent her whole life listening to insincere flattery given in a pathetic attempt to curry her favour, but every word that came out of Ruby’s mouth, Weiss knew, was sincere.

“Ruby, I...” Weiss eventually began, choking on a sob, then wrapped Ruby in a hug of her own. “I’m sorry I don’t know who you are or where or when you came from. But thank you. Thank you for everything.”

It was pretty amazing how one talk with a girl Weiss never met seemed to placate all her worries and fears, at least for the time being. There was something magical about Ruby’s voice—no doubt connected to that feeling of familiarity—that made everything she said trustworthy and empowering. Right when Weiss felt she had lost all hope, when she felt trapped in the darkness and cold of her home, Ruby came—by the decree of some god or angel or demon, she didn’t know—and told her everything she didn’t even know she wanted to hear.

Ruby just maintained her smile, which overflowed with infinite kindness, as she once again shook her head. “No, Weiss. No need to thank me. This is the only way I could think of to repay you.”

“What do you mean?” asked Weiss. What did she do to garner a favour from someone as incredible as Ruby seemed to be?

“Things weren’t always easy, back where I’m from,” Ruby began. “Many times, I felt just as lost and confused and scared as you do now. But every time that happened, you were there for me. You always forced yourself to stay strong when I needed to rely on you.”

Weiss watched as it was Ruby’s eyes that filled with tears, though these tears too were ones of gratitude.

“When I got the opportunity, I decided: since you did so much for me, the only way to properly thank you would be to help you now the same way you helped me then.”

Ruby looked down at her hands, which began to shimmer and sparkle. Defined edges became blurred smudges as Ruby’s figure began to dissipate, being sent back to her own time. Weiss watched in wonder, unable to form words, at the angelic sight in front of her.

“Ah, it seems my time is up,” she said with a hint of sadness, but no regret. “Remember, Weiss, things may be difficult now, but they’ll get better. I promise.”

Weiss just continued to stare in shock and awe, as if she lost control of her own body, as she watched Ruby continue to shine and fade. She watched motionlessly as Ruby, after narrowing her eyes in a brief moment of contemplation, grinned and launched herself forward, arms out in front of her.

Ruby’s arms landed over her shoulders for one last hug, before Weiss felt the slight brush of lips against her own as the entire room faded to white.

* * *

When Weiss woke up, it was almost noon. She looked out her window in mild awe as she realized just how high the sun had risen before she got up—how long has it been since she slept in, waking up after sunrise, or even this late into the day? She distantly remembered having a vivid dream, though as she grasped her head to try to recall what she dreamed about, she found that she could remember next to nothing. Only the feeling of love more genuine than anything she felt in this household, as well as a pair of shining silver eyes, remained in her memory.

Getting out of bed to clothe herself, Weiss noticed that, in the flower vase decorating her dresser, there laid a single white rose. She stared at it curiously—did a housemaid place it in here before she fell asleep, and she didn’t notice? She appreciated the gift and, marvelling at the pure beauty of its white petals, experienced a wondrous feeling of connection with the delicate plant, as if something within it resonated with her. It seemed to give her an inexplicable determination and will she never knew she had.

Her father would no doubt yell at her today for sleeping in ‘like a commoner,’ but for the first time, Weiss felt she had the strength and the courage not to care.

~ End ~

**Author's Note:**

> This is late! I originally didn't plan on writing anything more for White Rose Week this year, but right Day 8 is about to end, I thought, "Wouldn't it be a shame to only leave my series at 2 works when 3 is such a nicer number?" So here we are. I threw this together in a couple hours, much shorter than the first two, so I'm admittedly not the happiest with it.
> 
> The prompt today is Day 7: Future.
> 
> White Rose Week was fun! I enjoyed participating, and I'm grateful to everyone who read and enjoyed these one-shots.
> 
> See you around.
> 
> \- Voyager.


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